Payback Is a Given: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 2

by Sean Benjamin

  “Why didn’t you take Baby Doll in the landing party?”

  Raferty smiled, “She likes men too much.”

  Blondie nodded in response. She knew that was a true statement. “I’ve never passed judgment on anyone with the stakes so high.”

  “Does it bother you?”

  “No.” Even Blondie was surprised at the speed and the finality of her answer. Her conscience was clear. “But his was an easy case.”

  “Yes, it was.” Hawkins then looked at her intently. “Get used to doing it. Pirates do it every day. We are judge, jury, and executioner. We operate under our own moral code outside the constraints of society.”

  “Are you used to it?”

  “Yes, but I’ve been doing it a long time. It takes a while. Admittedly, sometimes it is harder than other times. Deciding whether a person deserves to die, and if you have the right to kill him, is a great responsibility. The most difficult is fighting against police forces or military units. They are just people following orders and doing their jobs.” Hawkins leaned forward and his intensity flared. “But never, ever let it deter you or cause you to hesitate at a critical moment. In our business, hesitation gets you killed.”

  Blondie nodded, “I’ll remember. One last question?”

  Rafe flipped his left hand in a “why not” gesture.

  “For a pirate, you and your officers seem to be well spoken. A bit odd.”

  “A good education in childhood and augmented with self-education.” Hawkins rose and stretched. Blondie realized her last question had hit close to home. She didn’t regret it. She had revealed a great deal of her past, and a trade of information seemed fair.

  Rafe remarked, “We need to get moving on the Agra 2 thing. I’m holding a war council in fifteen minutes in here. I want you here for that. Thanks for coming in and being so honest with me.”

  “Thank you for the same, Captain.” Blondie rose and departed for a quick visit to her stateroom before returning.

  Blondie went to her sink and splashed water on her face. She stretched out on her rack for a few minutes before heading back to the captain’s meeting. Blondie took a deep breath. Surprisingly she felt better after the talk with Hawkins. She had never told anyone what she had just related to him. There had never been anyone to tell. She couldn’t tell her family. She couldn’t tell her friends on Aquitaine, word would have quickly gotten back to her family.

  Midshipmen made lifelong friends at The Academy but she had none. With so many children of the nobility and high business magnets in each class, knowing the pedigrees of all your classmates was a mandatory exercise. Midshipman Bychovskaya had no pedigree and less money. The tight finances kept her from attending many social events and this was well known to her classmates. Nobody ever mentioned her money situation in her presence, but it was always there. Even in her study foursome, she had earned respect for her intelligence and hard work, but no close friendships. Since her graduation, she had not maintained communication with any of her former classmates.

  This detachment continued when she attended her follow-on intel schools and, later, in her life aboard the flagship. There were a few of her classmates on Sirocco, but she had only a friendly coworker relationship with them. She was a smart, dedicated worker who was recognized as an asset in the work place, but not someone who fellow officers befriended. The simple fact was, she came from a different social class than almost all the other officers in the Royal Navy, and nobody was willing to overlook that.

  It suddenly occurred to Blondie she was more comfortable among the pirates than she had ever been in the Royal Navy. She had thought it was because of the important job she was doing here, but she now knew it was more than that. The pirates had accepted her with no reservations. It did not matter where she came from or how much money she had. Here you were judged by your performance, not by your pedigree. The young woman smiled at that as she stared at the overhead. She then rose and moved toward her hatch and on to the captain’s day cabin.

  Chapter 15

  Baby Doll, Blondie, and Tactical took seats around Rafe’s desk. Hawkins passed beer around and everyone took a drink from their bottles and relaxed. Blondie smiled to herself. Try as she might, she could not envision this type of briefing method within her Navy. She found she could get used to this. She took another swig.

  Hawkins began. “I want to look at this opportunity regarding Agra 2. Blondie, you’re here because I want to make sure this fits into our timeline for ship modification and the dress rehearsal for Rosstrappe. Work with these two on the planning for Agra 2 and ensure the timeline works. The priority is the prep for our OrCon mission. If, in your judgment, this Agra 2 thing compromises our prep for the main mission, speak up and we can hash it out. If required, we will cancel Agra operations so we can focus on the main effort.”

  Blondie nodded in response to Hawkins’ words.

  Rafe looked at Baby Doll. “I know you’re a bit behind here because you weren’t on Agra 2 but Tactical will get you caught up.”

  Baby Doll grinned, “To the contrary, my captain. I already put together a brief on recent events there, and I’ve pulled information on Sunrise Grange. Ready to brief when you want.”

  Rafe’s eyes flicked to Tactical. She looked back nonplussed and then calmly stated, “Did you really think I didn’t know what you were going to do?” The question didn’t require an answer.

  Rafe looked back at Baby Doll. With a wave of his hand he said, “Have at it.”

  Baby Doll pulled out a small 3-D projector from her briefing bag, activated a chip already in the machine, and set it on the desk. An image of the Cinnamon solar system with the five Agra planets along with several other small planets and their moons appeared in midair above the desk.

  “The story you got on Agra 2 was true in all essentials. The Agra planets had been doing fine for decades. Not getting rich but getting a decent life by providing a fair and reasonably priced product. Two years ago, the Sunrise Grange moved in. The Grange had started in Goth space with the name Sonnenaufgang, German for sunrise. They control a considerable portion of the food production there. They are doing fine, but they have their competitors there and really can’t expand their market share. Now things get a little hazy, but it looks like they gained a patron of some sort. Not sure who, but if I had to pick someone, it would be the Emperor’s third son, Prince Joseph. Through the influence of this newfound patron, Sunrise received a royal patent for food production in the Badlands. The patent is for five years, and then it is open season for others to move into Badland markets. Sunrise has moved to monopolize the entire Badlands market so by the time the patent expires, there won’t be anything for competitors to move in on. They are maxing profits by lowballing the farmers, providing the transportation themselves or, if needed, lowballing independent freighters to transport for them. They also own the processing plants. The price to the consumers has not been increased yet so there has not been much complaining about Sunrise. I suspect once they consolidate their holdings that will change. Why go through the trouble to monopolize the market if you’re not going to stick it to the consumer? The Cinnamon System is the center of their production but they are growing and buying crops on planets in the Oliminate System, the Korpeau System, and one in the Zenith System. There are two processing plants in Cinnamon and one each in the other three systems. They sell mostly in the Badlands but ship some product outside the Badlands on occasion. They have several armed vessels for escort or to threaten local freighters. We can handle those ships if it comes to it.” Baby Doll flicked her hand and the image changed to a chart listing the locations of Sunrise processing plants, ship home bases, ports of departure for freighters, and their headquarters. “They have a couple of regional offices, one on Agra 3 and one on Sissel in the Oliminate System. Their Badlands’ main headquarters is on Lorelei in Baseline.”

  “A little out of the way of their other holdings,” remarked Rafe. Tactical used the break in the brief to move to the cold sto
rage unit and get second beers for everyone. She passed them out. Everyone nodded thanks. Blondie drained her first beer and took a drink from the second. Yup, she could get used to this.

  “They’ve set up in a three-story building in the middle of downtown Baseline. The planet is closer to the Goth/Edinburgh border than any of their holdings, so that makes sense. They can get support and protection out of Rosstrappe if needed. Baseline is a nice city and on the trade routes. Several businesses are establishing headquarters or regional manufacturing plants in Baseline. The city is being called Bottom Line by some. The Goth backers are keeping a low profile because everything is going well from their point of view. I suspect if we get involved and Sunrise sees their plan going to hell, Goth support will come out into the open. If the Prince really is involved, that support will be military support in the form of naval units and troops on the ground.”

  Baby Doll waved a hand at the list of Sunshine assets simmering in midair above the 3-D briefer. “This list is available for view when I put the brief on the ship’s net. It will be coded Ag 444 for your access. There is other info there but you can review it at your leisure. I’m done.” She took a drink from her beer and settled back into her seat.

  Everyone turned to Rafe as he stared at the brief, but his mind was somewhere else as he formulated a broad outline of attack. He drank and then started. “I see this as a continuing campaign which, if we time it correctly, can also aid us in our planned attack on Rosstrappe. First, we are going to get a freighter and send it to Agra 2 loaded with parts for their machines. I want a small independent freighter with no connection to us. Next, we’ll get a list of mechanical parts needed on Agra 2 from the Sheriff and we’ll do the transaction as a trade of our newly acquired parts for their crops. We will take those crops and sell them at whatever markets we can find. There are people who will buy from us. I’m not worried about that part of it. People have to eat. The Sheriff told me there are people on Agra 2 who will sell us out to Sunshine, and I’m confident the business transaction will be reported to the Grange. They will send a patrol craft to intercept the freighter on its way out. I want Marauder and Firestorm to be the escort for the freighter. Firestorm will spring the ambush and smack that patrol craft hard. I don’t believe many people know we have Firestorm so Flot 1 will still be out of this situation as far as most people know. Marauder will be backup in the attack if needed. The Grange will scream to the Goths for military support and the Goth Navy will send units to help squelch what will be perceived as a local problem with independent pirates. We are going to bring some of those Goth units to combat at a place and time of our choosing. We will annihilate those ships. We will make it obvious Flot 1 is doing the death dealing. In response, the Goth Navy will sortie ships in search of us. Many of their ships will come from Rosstrappe. Once we confirm Rosstrappe is as empty as it is likely to be and the nearby moons are as favorably aligned as possible, we will hit that base as our dress rehearsal for our OrCon attack.”

  Blondie looked around the room. This was the first time she had attended a brief that discussed such ramifications. The other two attendees were routinely taking all this in stride. Both casually listened to their commander as they gradually drained their beers. This was clearly the latest in dozens or, maybe, hundreds of such briefs between these three. But this was Blondie’s first such brief, and she was amazed at the casual way Raferty Hawkins discussed and decided important topics. People would die based on what he decided here and now. Blondie was looking at Baby Doll who turned and looked back at her. Blondie was startled and turned back to Hawkins who was staring at her expectantly. Blondie saw Tactical was also eyeing her. Nobody spoke. Sometime during Blondie’s musing, the briefing had stopped and all three were now looking at her.

  Raferty smiled slightly. “Am I boring you?”

  Blondie was embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Captain. I have never been in a big-picture brief.”

  “So you’re bored.”

  “The opposite, Captain. There are big decisions being made here and I’m seeing it close up.”

  Rafe continued to smile. “Life and death. Ships vanishing in explosions. Potentially thousands dying. And we orchestrate all that while sitting here drinking beer. I expect they do it much the same way in the Empire, or the Confederation, or the Goldenes Tor. There would be more people and the setting would be more formalized with no beer, but the end result would be the same.”

  Blondie nodded. “Sorry if I drifted there for a second.”

  “Not at all. I was starting to drift myself.” He looked at the other two. “Hell, you know what I want to accomplish here. Get a warning order out to every ship. I sent a comm to Delacruz to get two of his ships for the initial part of the plan. With Vindictive and Bandit getting engine and hull mods, Firestorm and Marauder are laying low and they can lend a hand here. Make sure we timeline this out because I want both Vindictive and Bandit available for the fight with the Goth Navy ships. After that fight is over, Nemesis and Predator will go in the yards for mods. Then all four ships will prep for our Rosstrappe foray.”

  “If we kick the hell out of the Goths, they’ll be out searching with a vengeance. If they get knowledge of us and Nemesis being cold tits in a shipyard, they’ll be on us,” Baby Doll warned.

  “I know. That might be the riskiest part of the plan. We’ll have to post an over watch on the shipyard. Keep the number of people who know our true identities to a minimum. I’m also counting on O’Hare’s reputation to help in this. Everyone would know the stationary ships would be easy targets, but O’Hare won’t be on the ship, so that may give people pause if they’re thinking of informing on either ship. If the bad guys get our ships, they won’t get any of us, and nobody would want us walking around free to seek revenge. Besides, the majority of the Burghs will keep their mouths shut, and the few who would sell us out would become outcasts in their own system. Plenty of people would sell them out and then we would kill them.”

  “Where you getting the freighter for the food run?” Tactical asked.

  “I thought Kit Kincaid might help there.”

  Both Tactical and Baby Doll smiled at that. Kit Kinkaid was a freighter captain with ties to about everything and everybody in the Badlands. If she liked you, you had a true friend, and if she hated you, you had a bad enemy. She had been friends with the Flot 1 captains for years. They had provided her with cargo to carry and, occasionally, protection from other pirates, and she provided information on several key events whenever she could. Recently she had given the key information to track down the man who had sold Charlie Squadron’s house location to the Goths. If anyone could help here and keep her mouth shut, it was Kit.

  Hawkins continued, “I want a small tramp freighter with good paper, or at least be made to look like it has good paper. The ship can be on its last legs but it has to be able to make two trade runs. Here is how I see it happening.”

  Rafe now covered his plan in detail. At the end, all three women were smiling. Good plan.

  After the meeting broke up, Tactical sent a warning order to all Flotilla One ships. Raferty sent a message to Shane Delacruz about using his two squadron ships, and then sent a message to Kitty Kinkaid asking about a freighter. He was very specific in what he wanted and what it would be used for. Baby Doll and Blondie did the timeline for fitting this new campaign in with the preparation for the Rosstrappe attack and the overhaul schedule for the four ships tasked to conduct the attack.

  Chapter 16

  Days later Predator took up an orbit over the city of Westrose on the planet Lorelei. Her chameleon paint was hiding her real name and running cheetah. She assumed the identity of the Edinburgh naval ship McShane, another Clan class destroyer. It would fool casual visual observers and those who perused the computer lists of ships in orbit. Most of the Lorelei space administrators were not fooled, but Flotilla One ships always stayed out of trouble and spent money, so the Lorelei government had the habit of looking the other way when Flot 1 vessels
came into orbit. Hawkins and all his captains worked hard to ensure peace was maintained while their ships were here.

  A liberty schedule for all crewmembers was established and commenced immediately. There were always duty sections left aboard ship to ensure the ship could depart with great speed if necessary. Ace was left in temporary command as the Captain, and his immediate subordinates went down to the surface. The ship’s shuttle and several taxies transported the lucky liberty goers to the mid-city landing pad. After disembarking, the crew scattered in groups to pursue various activities. There was a rotation schedule to ensure those left on the ship would get liberty at a later time so these first crewmembers moved with a purpose. They had a limited time to get their fun.

  Rafe Hawkins and his immediate staff were to meet Kit Kincaid at a tavern/hotel/whorehouse known as Destiny’s. The establishment was owned by Destiny Flores who was held in high regard throughout the Badlands. Destiny and her staff were honest, forthright, and ensured everyone in their establishment met these same standards. If anyone fell short, Destiny had no problem throwing them out or, in extreme circumstances, hurting or killing them. Destiny also banned people from her place and such a ban was regarded as a direct reflection on one’s character. People didn’t like it if word got around they were booted out of Destiny’s as it was immediately assumed it was their own fault. Also, a ban from Destiny’s lasted for life.

  Rafe wanted to maximize shore leave time for the crew. Consequently, Predator had arrived three hours before Kit Kinkaid could get there. Rafe would fill the time with Destiny, and the other officers got some liberty time before the scheduled meeting.